Record No: 181192 Davis v. Davis 12/05/2019 (as published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In a suit for aid and direction concerning the validity of transfers of personal and real property shortly before the death of the gravely ill and hospitalized decedent, the circuit court erred in holding that the decedent’s mother, as attorney-in-fact under a...
Record No: 171393 Parson v. Miller 12/20/2018 (As published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In a will contest action brought by a daughter of the decedent alleging that a niece of the decedent – who was named the beneficiary of his residuary estate – had exercised undue influence over the testator, considering all of the evidence...
Record No: 180060 Ray v. Ready 12/20/2018 (As published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In a widow’s action to claim an elective share of the augmented estate of her deceased husband, the complaint naming his “Estate” was a nullity and could not toll the running of the statute of limitations on that claim. Even though the...
Record No. 170747 Canody v. Hamblin (as published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In a proceeding brought by a daughter for probate of a three-page computer-generated document tendered as the will of her father, the circuit court did not err in considering testimony to establish the testamentary nature of the pages proffered for probate, and...
Record No: 170031 (As published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In combined suits concerning a will’s residuary clause, which the parties agreed was unambiguous and its meaning could be decided on summary judgment without the aid of extrinsic evidence, limitations expressed in the will, taken as a whole, manifestly demonstrate the testator’s intention to restrict...
Record No: 160782 (unpublished order) In a case filed by the beneficiaries of an estate against the decedent’s power of attorney, the Court held that the trial court had erred when it found the attorney-in-fact liable for his wife’s withdrawal of funds from a bank account held jointly by herself, the decedent, and one of...
Record No: 170521 (as published by the Virginia Supreme Court) The circuit court erred in concluding that a son’s challenge to the validity of his mother’s will is barred by claim preclusion, issue preclusion, or judicial estoppel. Under Rule 1:6(a), a final judgment forecloses successive litigation of the same claim, but claim preclusion will not...
Record No: 170071 (as published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In a proceeding to review a clerk’s decision to deny probate to a handwritten notation on a tab-divider in a binder of estate planning documents, the record in this case supports the circuit court’s rulings that the holographic writing was not signed in the manner...
Record No: 161505 (As published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In two litigations raising the issue whether a decedent’s will and trust were the product of undue influence by his brother, the attorney who drafted the instruments, the widow’s claims are rejected. In the context of testamentary documents, a presumption of undue influence arises upon...
Record No: 161419 (As published by the Virginia Supreme Court) In an estates dispute in which a commissioner of accounts entertained a petition for aid and direction in the interpretation of the decedent’s will and the determination of heirs, and the commissioner’s reports were confirmed by the circuit court, the judgment is affirmed. Commissioners of...
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